SPACE: THE CURRENT FRONTIER

An update from your friendly neighbourhood co-chairs
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TL:DR: We’re almost sold out of pre-registration passes! PANIC! Read all of it if you want to find out allll of the details and what’s happening for 2020 and 2021. <3
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It’s safe to say that, for the past couple of years, Can*Con has been outgrowing its current home at the Ottawa Sheraton. We’ve experienced three great growth years, at 20% extra participants each. Last year, we came to within three registrations of closing registration onsite.
This year, so far, we are at a 28% growth.
It’s exciting! And also means that we’ll be cutting off registration. It makes us sad that we won’t be able to welcome everyone who wants to join us, but the realities of time and space befuddle us (still).

WHY DIDN’T YOU SEE THIS COMING???

Well, honestly, we did. However, Can*Con is keen on remaining accessible on two fronts: a downtown space, so that we’re easy to reach via public transit, and affordable prices at the door.
We also want to have a break-even budget, maybe even a tad of profit to start off the following year.
It’s a juggling act.

YOU HAVEN’T ANSWERED MY QUESTION!

True dat. It’s Friday, it’s rainy, we’re rambly. (Derek says he’s not. He totally is.)
In 2015, Marie was brought on board as co-chair to help stabilize the con finances while keeping us downtown. The attack plan was two-fold: cut down costs while not sacrificing attendee experience, and negotiate everything down to the penny.
Except for a slight bump in 2016 (321.46$ in the red), and following a satisfying Redemption Arc set for Marie by Derek, we then had two successful years, and our growth now promises the possibility of jumping into a new, bigger boat.

WOW. HAVE YOU NEVER HEARD OF GRANTS?

*looks up in dictionary*
Yes! We have.
In order to have a truly stable con, however, we needed to make sure we could maintain that stability sans grants. Grants are fickle things, dependent on juries and governments. We didn’t want to build something great for the community we love, and then have it collapse because of fiscal irresponsibility.
Last year, we did so well that Marie even paid for Derek’s parking at the Sheraton (he had to sleep at home though. Let’s not go crazy!)
Following a successful growth curve, and two stable financial years, we decided the time to apply for grants was now. We applied for two and received three (thanks to SFWA, the City of Ottawa, and World Fantasy 2008 in Calgary!).
That means that we can suddenly take a risk we never responsibly could before: book our venues before the con is over and we’re sure that Can*Con is okay for another year.

SO…BIGGER BOAT?

Bigger boat! But not yet.
We’re too late to get a bigger boat for 2020, but we’ve already confirmed the Sheraton.
We’re negotiating the venue for 2021, however, and it’ll be a bigger boat. Oh, how it’ll be awesome.
More on that later.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR THIS YEAR?

Last year, we sold 420 registrations, and we felt it was a tad tight. We have to keep in mind space and accessibility. So, for 2019 and 2020, Corporate is cutting off registration at 400 for each day. Saturday is our biggest day and will sell out. Friday and Sunday probably will, as well.
We’ll keep some passes to be purchased on site, for those who can’t buy online or who can’t buy until then, but it’s a gamble.
After looking at our numbers, we’ve decided to keep 75 on site registrations.
Which means we have only 50 left to sell before the con.
That’s right: we only have 50 left for pre-registration out of 125 available registrations.

DOES THAT MEAN IT’S TIME TO PANIC?

Oh yes.
It certainly does.
We encourage you to fuel that panic into registering now: REGISTRATION PAGE.
We’ll close it over the next two weeks and let you know. But consider this your last warning.

ON-SITE MANAGEMENT

We’ll have volunteers specifically in charge of managing room flow. Our most popular panels will fill up, but we have good stuff all the time (wait until you see the grid! Coming soon!)
We suggest you identify a couple of items of interest per time slot, in case you can’t get into a panel room. Please be kind to our volunteers when they have the tough job of keeping enthusiastic people out of a full room.
And we really appreciate your flexibility as we experience some growing aches. We promise to try to make this as smooth as possible for everyone.

I FEEL EXISTENTIAL RIGHT NOW AND I’M NOT QUITE SURE WHY

If you feel existential, it’s probably because you’re a long-time attendee. You’ve watched Can*Con grow from its humble relaunch in 2010 to now. Maybe you miss the smaller con. Maybe you like accessing any panel you want. Maybe you’re sad you forgot to grab a cookie out of the con suite last year.
We feel existential, too.
Also, we feel this once-a-year extravaganza event can no longer contain our growing enthusiasm for Canadian SFF and our community.

WE WANT MORE

Derek and Marie are getting enthusiastic. For the first time in a long time (ever?), we’ll have actual closing ceremonies. WE WILL ANNOUNCE COOL STUFF THERE!
If Can*Con cannot be contained to the Ottawa Sheraton, THEN CAN*CON SHALL NOT BE CONTAINED!
So, join us there and shake off those existential blues. Let us show you what the next few years have in store for the Ottawa and Friends SFF community!

THANK YOU FOR MAKING US WHAT WE ARE

We are proud to lead Can*Con into this next phase. We can’t believe how much it’s grown. We’re gobsmacked by the amazing team of volunteers who make this a reality, year after year. All of that support makes Can*Con possible.
Thank you for all that you do.
Now go panic and buy your registration! <3

Marie Bilodeau, Co-chair, Corporate
Derek Künsken, Co-chair, Programming